(Gotta catch em all)
"Another?
Sure."
The Banshee glides away, leaving the warehouse through one of the exits.
The little boy Claude stirs, and awakens. He stands up and takes a look at his hands, and at his surroundings. His black hair casts a shadow on his face.
"I see now," he remarks.
"It was all a ruse,"He looks at Raioyris in the eye.
"How did you do it? What are you?" he asks.
"Do you know what you've done?""You've created your own nightmare."Claude's head sails off in an arc, replaced by the shadow it cast; half a head in full darkness, the top half missing, if not for the dark frazzled hair which grows out steadily to the floor, with an appearance dark as night.
"And now it won't end when we're done here!"The lights go out.
"Medic, can't you make yourself useful? Stay in cover if you want, but do something!" Gilles shouted at Johan, unlocking part of his box so the man could get something from the stash and start contributing. The situation was looking more difficult by the moment and he couldn't figure why they had someone cowering.
The merchant checked the systems and then the tactical situation while the lasso detached, keeping the book tied and allowing him to produce another lasso. He only had one of his main hands available to throw onethe other was occupied holding the talking gun. The rope quickly swung as he tried to catch more than one enemy. "Power Armor and Milenus, retreat! Solj, can you help with the barrier?"
Multi-Heavy attack: spin the lasso right to left and try to tie the book controlling the skeletons attacking Havelock while at the same time smacking one of the books out of the triangle position.
Gilles hurls the book, along with the weight of the steel rope, [7 => 3][Constitution 5 -> 2] sending it flying far and wide across the room. It strikes true, and
knocks one of the books in the triangle formation up and over the wall of pages. The wall reorganizes itself to form a panel between the two remaining books.
[7 => 1][Constitution 5 -> 1] The rope then tangles itself around the scaffold at the base of the stairs. It's not really possible to curve a rope outwards once it's already thrown.
"Very probably. Awaiting empirical data."
Hit that barrier with a UV laser. Hopefully it will bypass the barrier and cut apart the summoning dragon.
The wall still protects part of the dragon, but if the laser penetrates the wall, it would mean nothing. The dragon would be bisected.
Solj runs his calculations and fires a sweep. [6+5 -> 0+4] But it's no use! The laser clearly ablates the mystic dragon material, but more ethereal form seeps in to take it's place.
It seems that the dragon is some kind of conjuration whose appearance is incidental to its function. One approach would be to attack its source, the books, but that would clearly harm the books themselves, which obviously might be of some use if they could be captured while closed.
The other option would be to simply overwhelm the dragon with enough firepower to break its cohesion.
With one of the books out of the formation, the translucent dragon seems to be fading in appearance.
"Smoke does not stop enemy fire, what if the robots decided to shoot blindly?"
Courage-related insults aside, Johan tried to move over from his position to Gilles' stash, using whatever cover he could. Once at the stash, he searched for a usable ranged weapon.
Johan combs through the box to find a triangular weapon with a large capacitor bank at the back, its lower half featuring a tripod that folds against the case of the weapon itself when not in use. It's heavy, though, but it seems to fit this particular situation. On the back there is a seal of approval, printed by some environmental commission:
ZERO EMISSIONS.
He mounts the laser on top of the coffer, with an excellent field of fire at the top of the ledge.
...
{3 -> 0} The book charging the fireball spell
catches fire and explodes, clearing out some of the smoke around it. (1 book)
{3 -> 1} Skeletons charge into the smoke... they trip on the ball bearings, and become immobilized. (2 books)
{3 -> 1} The AK fires once more. And once more, it is proven that skeletons have just too low a body mass to adequately fire 8mm ammo. (3 books)
{3 -> 1} The skeletons press the assault on (Havelock), but their attacks now glance off his armor. The furious warrior rips a femur off of the nearest skeleton, (6 -> 2) leaps to his feet, and (6 -> 3) knocks apart the remainder of the skeletons on his side.
The book controlling them snaps shut and falls to the ground. (4 books)
{3 -> 0} The Iron Guardian is now unarmed. It reaches into the ground and begins to transmute a spear out of the floor tiles.
(6 -> 4) A grey figure dashes out of the ball-bearing-infested smoke,
freezing a book solid with a single mallet hit. The skeletons near Millenus fall apart, held together by nothing more than animating forces. Millenus takes the time to consider the usefulness of the human skeleton.
{6 -> 2} The remaining books summoning the dragon empower it with mystical energy. Purple motes rise up out of the floor and into its mouth, and from its throat it issues a powerful orange beam which targets Gilles and Solj. Gilles, anticipating some kind of attack, stepped to the side, and it leaves behind a melted crater on the floor where he once stood, which glows purple. [Solj Disrupt 8 ->> 1][Gilles Dodge 3 ->> 2]
Since the dragon is taller than several men, there is no penalty to hitting it due to distance or smoke. (6 books)
>Being shot through smoke confers +1 evasiveness
>Being attacked by melee, while within smoke, also confers +1 evasiveness
>Melee attacking from high ground adds your speed to your strength for a more powerful attack--but you take a constitution test for landing
>All shooting attacks in this chaos have the regular difficulty boost for attacking at a distance
Feats:
Mechanic :: A past education and experience working in manufacturing has given Mattias extensive knowledge of how gadgets and vehicles work, and thus how to build, disassemble, repair, and modify them (with the proper materials, of course). This knowledge does not (completely) transfer over to weapons.
+2 to non-artifact assembly/repair, +1 to artifact assembly/repair
First Aid :: A bit of experience in wound treatment allows Mattias to have a little more knowledge than most in the area of first aid.
+2 to first aid, +1 to surgery and more advanced procedures
Stats:
Strength: 2
Speed: 3
Reflexes: 3
Constitution: 2
Gear:
Mattiass toolbox and the tools inside, which allow him to build, repair, disassemble, and modify machinery of all kinds. Some of the tools in there could also function as weapons in a pinch.
Reduces the DIFF by 1, of all repair and assembly actions with DIFF > 1.
Zero Emissions Mounted Electrolaser (Strength 4)
Gives +2 Reflex if the user didn't attack and move the weapon in the last turn, but -4 Reflex if the user did. Suppresses enemies that aren't fearless if the gun is mounted.
Prototype Mage Power :: During the Magicians research with Raioyris they found it necessary to train him in the command and use of mage power. Later when he awoke he was able to swiftly adapt thanks to his powers. He did a lot of his own exploring and venturing.
+1 to all Tier 1 skills in the default Magician tree.
Cybersphere Exploration :: Raioyris has explored a Cybersphere. He cannot remember where it is but in a confusing turn of events he created a ghost with his personality and ambitions; Ghost Raioyris.
Stats:
Strength:2
Speed:5
Reflexes:2
Constitution:1
Gear:
Samurai Edge 92FS mod Wesker handgun.
Sword of Kusanagi.
Pearl handled Stiletto.
Stable :: As an artificial mind, SO5lgs is constructed to be able to withstand more mental duress than most organic creatures. Despite having spent centuries essentially immobile and helpless in the dark, SO3lgs isn't totally mad. If a being can go though that just fine, what's a little bit of magnetic brainwaves or Things That Man Was Not Meant To Know?
Immune to negative mental statuses.
Weaponized :: SO5lgs was created as a weapon. While it doesn't particularly value or desire violence, it is capable of killing without any remorse.
Precise :: While SO5lgs was never used in direct conflict, as the Aurogen were a utopian and peaceful society, the weapon has under gone a variety of combat simulations and live fire exercises. As in intended by the design, this weapon should be able to rapidly and accurately target a variety of adversaries.
-1 DIFF on erratically moving targets; does not assist against stationary targets.
Stats:
Strength: 3
Speed: -2
Reflexes: 5
Constitution: 3
Gear:
Main chamber: The primary barrel of the weapon is fitted to use a standard .50 round, which were manufactured in a variety of types, including armor penetrators, flechettes, explosive rounds, micro-missiles, electromagnetic disruption rounds, and even more specialized and obscure things.
Targeting sensors: A variety of different sensors aid in acquiring and tracking targets. Includes high-resolution visual feed, IR feed, motion sensors, laser range finder, and sonar.
Mage Hand: A lesser version of Mage Power tech that simply allows for physical manipulation of compatible objects.
Overcharger: The weapon can fire a highly energetic blast of energy, at the cost of some system instability. This counts as a Heavy Attack.
Reactor: Officially designated the "phlebotinum generator", the exact workings of this reactor are both secret and lost to time. gee howdy put out a lott juice tho
Current Balance: 3.5 Artifact Tokens
Feats:
Hardy :: The human body is a machine, and Gilles' is hard to break or suffer serious damage;
+1 Armor Value (negates an enemy Hit)
Heavy-Duty :: Having spent much of his life around heavy gear, Gilles has an affinity for heavier weapons;
+1 to heavy weapons use, melee or ranged.
Mech-Wrangler :: Gilles wrangles robots for a living, used as he is at taking machines down without causing harm, in order to maximize profit and preserve valuable technology;
+2 to 'mech-wrangling' actions against machinery, provided Gilles does not use a purpose-made weapon like a gun (a lasso is an improvised weapon). Gilles can also apply his bonuses to using weaponry while Disrupting an action using that weapon, though he still uses Reflex as his attribute for Disruption.
Lightning Reprogramming :: Catching ornery robots is only half the fight, you also have to fix them afterwards. Gilles is good at programming and reprogramming robots;
+1 to reprogramming actions without prior knowledge, +2 to reprogramming Gilles has already done before.
Tech-Wright :: Gilles knows his way around technology, because failing to keep it working would be terrible for both business and gear. He gets bonuses to repairs and minor modifications;
+1 to repairs of any kind.
Stats:
Strength: 5
Speed: 0
Reflexes: 0
Constitution: 5
Gear:
Absalom-pattern Hardsuit :: The Absalom is a thick bipedal mechsuit running on a cold fusion reactor designed for resilience and heavy-lifting in an industrial setting. It uses analog input from its pilot to perform tasks, and was famed during its mass-production years for its uncompromising efficiency, the ease with which it could be adapted to a support role during war, and the physical effort it took to use its controls, specially on earlier models. The rounded, simplistic main section/torso houses the cockpit and has the suit's arms on either side. Its hands are capable of operating oversized gear and can hold more delicate objects without destroying them, though thick digits prevent most useful interaction. A pair of smaller skeletal arms folded over the armor and close to the pelvis area takes care of finer work. Its legs are sturdy, with distinctively wide heat shields and an emergency stabilization system that includes magnetic and traditional stakes that can be explosively launched to anchor the suit. The suit features back handles to allow for personnel to take rides on the suit.
Gilles has a dark gray Absalom with dark blue and white details adapted for his specific needs: its most obvious weapons are a steel-fiber lasso and winch system that works well against walkers and a detachable shoulder-mounted autocannon with an ammo supply that consists mostly of low-velocity stick foam shells that expand on impact. The Absalom also has other hunting-specific equipment (a bola launcher, ball bearings of various sizes, paint balls, smoke & chaff grenades) kept in saddlebags tied the suit's hip areas. Replacement parts for the suit's feet are attached to its cockpit and leg armor, working as extra protection and saving storage room. Gilles' Absalom easily carries an oversized container unit on its back to hold both goods and loot.
Provides Strength 5 weaponry that inflicts non-lethal statuses on the enemy. Allows Gilles to take unique 'Equipment Destroyed' statuses.
Tools :: Standard tools for repair as well as the tricky ones used to help capture robots.
+1 to repairing damage to Gilles' suit, -1 DIFF to all repair actions except actions with a difficulty of 1.
Break-Action Launcher :: Gilles has a personal single-shot break-action launcher that can fire smaller versions of the usual payloads (bolas, paint, expanding foam or grenades).
Author
Topic: Exmortal (IC Thread) (Read 49570 times)